Recently, there has been research and development to realize medical devices, as typified by swallowable capsule endoscopes etc., that can be introduced into a subject, e.g. a person to be examined, by swallowing so as to pass through a gastrointestinal tract and acquire images at a target position inside the gastrointestinal tract.
In order to guide such medical devices to a specific location in the gastrointestinal tract, currently, means for detecting at which position the medical device is located in the gastrointestinal tract and for performing guidance control of the medical device are required. Known means for guidance control of the medical device involves controlling the position etc. of an endoscope by installing a magnet inside the endoscope and using an external magnetic field (for example, see Patent Document 1).
On the other hand, one known method of detecting the position etc. of the medical device is a magnetic position detection method. One known magnetic position detection method is a technique in which a source coil for generating a magnetic field is provided in the medical device, and the position etc. of the medical device is specified by detecting the magnetic field generating from the source coil with a magnetic-field detection unit etc. (for example, see Patent Document 2).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2004-298560
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, Publication No. 2002-325721